The Oakland Raiders offense will get plenty of praise for a strong performance Sunday night, most notably the dominant rushing effort of Michael Bush and the big play effort of Denarius Moore. However, the Raiders defense stepped up in a big way after several weeks of struggling. The pass rush was all over Philip Rivers and never gave him time to get comfortable in the pocket. When he wasn't getting driven into the ground, Rivers had to hurry throws, which led to significant accuracy issues.
The player of the game on the defensive side of the ball has to be Kamerion Wimbley. The Raiders pass rush was dominant on Thursday and Wimbley had his way with the Chargers offensive line en route to a career-high four sacks. Wimbley became the first Raiders player since Anthony Smith in 1993 to grab four sacks in a game. The franchise record was Howie Long's five in 1983.
If you missed Wimbley's dominant performance, here is a gif of him ducking under the left tackle:
Here is the end of game sequence where Wimbley gets his fourth sack of the evening coming off the right end and again blowing past the helpless right tackle. Philip Rivers tried to toss the ball away for an incomplete pass, but the refs ruled him down. The Chargers did get everyone back to try for a hail mary, but fittingly enough Rivers was sacked again, this time by Tommy Kelly.